


Freaky Friday

by TylerDunJosh



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Eventual Smut, M/M, body switching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-05-07 10:53:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5454032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TylerDunJosh/pseuds/TylerDunJosh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler and Josh wake up from a weird dream and find out they somehow switched bodies…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

He could feel the sweat dripping down his back and the soreness in his fingers as he pounded away at the drums in front of him. He was bouncing in his seat, breathing hard from the exertion, watching as Tyler ran across the stage in front of him, singing to the stadium crowd pressed up against the barriers. As Tyler sang, his movements became faster and faster, building up to the climax of the verse.

 

“-but I can’t, but I can’t, when you all have guns for hands, yeah!”

 

This was an important song. It was from the last album but they thought the message in it was one of their strongest ones and when they could play it for the fans in a set, they would. They both knew how much it meant to the fans, a song written just for them to tell them that they care and that they shouldn’t go through with what they might want to do in their dark times. It was an important song for both of them too.

 

Tyler begins the next verse and Josh has a moment to rest his arms as he focuses on the kick drum.

 

“Let’s take this a second at a time. Let’s take this one song this one rhyme, together”

 

Josh smiles the best he can through his exhaustion. This part was his favorite, because he could take a second during the less intense drumming and watch Tyler perform, which was always an awesome sight to see. He was a little jealous of the crowd sometimes, being able to watch the whole thing.

 

“-but until then you’ll never understand!”

 

His queue to kick it up a notch. He slammed away on the drums and cymbals for the rest of the song - thankfully the last in the set - his arms were beginning to give out a little. He almost forgot about the drum finale, but made it through to the end when he and Tyler stood in front of the crowd of screaming fans, their arms around each other's shoulders and took it all in for a moment before they bowed. Bent over his glanced over at Tyler and he looked back at him, a huge proud grin on his face; another successful show. They stood back up, thanked them all and walked off the stage.

 

The lighting change from the flashing neons on stage to the normal lighting in the back rooms always threw Josh off a little. He stumbled a few times on his way following Tyler down the hallway, thanking the people they passed for the ‘good jobs’ and ‘awesome shows’. When they finally got into their dressing room they both flopped onto the leather couch to catch their breath. After a few minutes, Josh could feel feeling coming back into his fingers and sat up to grab a water bottle from the table. He tossed one to Tyler who barely caught it without it hitting his chest. Before he could say anything, the door to the room swung open and an excited Mark Eshleman came swooping in.

 

“Awesome show tonight guys, always killing it.” he said as he fell into the matching chair next to Tyler. He looked a bit tired too, since he had to do lights for the whole show, so of course he grabbed the closest chip bag he could reach and tore into it.

 

Tyler laughed a bit, “Yeah thanks man, you too.”

 

Mark leaned back and looked at them both. “Well I’m just glad I don’t have to get sweaty for a living like you two. Remember that there’s no shower here so we might as well leave and get to the hotel sooner rather than later.” Josh groaned as he remembered, he really hated letting the sweat dry, it made him too sticky. “Pack up, I’ll meet you guys in the bus.” Mark got up and grabbed another chip bag on his way out. As soon as the door closed they both looked at each other and Tyler giggled after a moment.

 

“Dude, you’re going to get stuck to the leather. Come on, let’s get out here, I’ll let you shower first if you help me pack up.” He got up and started collecting his clothes and makeup from the counter and after a second of deliberation, Josh got up to join him.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Back at the hotel, Tyler kept his promise and Josh slipped gratefully into the shower. The sweat had dried during the drive to the hotel, and he quickly scrubbed it away before he reveled in the warmth of the spray. He finished scrubbing and washed his hair quickly, realising Tyler probably didn’t want to wait too long to wash off too. He got out and wrapped a towel around his waist and walked back into the room.

 

Tyler was laying on one of the beds, already void of his sweat-soaked clothes and lounging in his boxers while watching tv. Josh quickly looked away, a little embarrassed to be in a towel while Tyler was in his underwear. He padded over to the edge of the bed and sat down, looking at what was playing on tv. After a second he got back up and looked to Tyler, who still hadn’t moved. “Hey, bathroom’s free.” He got a distracted nod in response and he went back to grab his clothes from his bag in the corner.

 

As he was searching through his bag, he jumped a little when Tyler suddenly whined out, “Aww, dude, you got the edge of my bed wet. Why do you never dry off?” He huffed and Josh chuckled and shrugged. He heard Tyler get up and move to the bathroom behind him, closing the door. After changing into some pajama pants he grabbed a journal from his bag and jumped into his own bed. After getting comfortable in the fluffy pillows he opened the journal and began writing.

 

He would mostly just write about his day or how the show went, but there were a few sketches and poems that he would make sure would never see the light of day. He wrote a lot about Tyler, though, about how he had done on stage, or what he had climbed this time. Whenever he wrote about him, he would get a little embarrassed, because he knew he had a tiny, tiny crush on him and he blushed just thinking about what would happen if Tyler or any of the other crew for that matter found his journal and read about his pining for his friend or the questionable poetry.

 

He heard the water stop in the bathroom and quickly shut the journal and dropped it to the floor on the far side of the bed. Tyler stepped out in a fresh pair of boxers and gave Josh a questioning look. Josh tried not to blush, “Shut up.”

 

Tyler held up his hands in mock defense, “Hey I didn’t say anything. We all keep diaries, I’m just surprised yours isn’t pink with butterflies on it.” he teased with a smirk on his face before he  jumped face first into his bed. Josh laughed at that and threw one of his own pillows on top of him. Tyler’s giggle was muffled and he threw it back at him without looking up, missing him by a good three feet. After a moment, Josh grabbed the remote from the bedside table and turned off the tv. He looked over to his friend, still face down, “Goodnight, Tyler.” He waited until he heard the mumbled response that was probably supposed to be “goodnight” before he turned off the light.

  
Exhausted from the long day, Josh quickly fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys this is my first fic so be nice and let me know what you think! I have the first few chapters done so ill post them now and work on the next ones over the next couple day!


	2. Chapter Two

He doesn’t remember how he got there, but all he knows is that he’s been walking and turning corners for what feels like hours. He must be in some sort of hedge maze, the branches lightly scraping his bare arms as he moves past, towards another split in the path. The sky is overcast and gray. Fog is rolling over the ground, swirling and retreating as his legs cut through. He keeps on turning corners, not really knowing where he was going, but he can hear footsteps somewhere else in the maze. Picking up the pace, he moves faster, not sure whether to get away from whoever was here or to find them.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

 

‘ _Oh my god,_ ’ thought Tyler, barely conscious, ‘ _why do hotel alarm clocks have to be so rude._ ’ He begrudgingly rolls over to the side of the bed and reaches out for the alarm clock, but his hand hits the smooth wall instead. _‘Whoops_.’ he rolls over to the other side and pressed all the buttons on the box, hoping one of them would turn the earth shattering sound off. Luckily it did and he relaxed back into the pillow. He could hear gentle breathing coming from the other bed, meaning Josh slept through that, of course.

 

Wait - didn’t he go to sleep in the other bed? He usually takes the one by the window, but he had just hit the wall, meaning he was not in the one by the window. His eyes shot open and he pushed himself up. Sure enough the wall was to his right and the other bed to his left. He looked over and saw Josh completely covered by blankets, looking like a little fluffy mountain. He sighed, ‘ _I guess I was so tired yesterday I didn’t remember which bed I took._ ’

 

He rubbed his eyes but as he slid his hands down his face he felt something he did not expect. “What the heck…?” he said quietly, confused. He rubbed his chin again and there it was - stubble - but more than that, almost a beard?

 

 _‘Am I finally growing decent facial hair?_ ’ he thought hopefully. He crawled to the edge of the bed and tripped a little on the long pants leg of his pajamas. Stumbling into the bathroom he excitedly turned on the light and looked into the mirror to see his new beard.

 

\--------------

 

Josh woke with a jump hearing a scream come from the bathroom. Wide awake he propped himself up on his elbows and called out “Wha...Tyler are you alright?” He was about to get up before the other boy stepped out of the bathroom.

 

\--------------

 

Tyler ran back into the room and couldn’t believe his eyes. He was laying on the bed, looking a bit worried up at him, Tyler, not Josh was laying on the bed looking at him. His - Tyler’s - body was laying on the bed, looking at Tyler. The Tyler laying on the bed and gasped, his eyes growing wide “What the h-” telling Tyler that he was seeing what he had just seen in the mirror a few moments before.

 

\--------------

 

Josh felt like he was punched in the gut. He was looking at himself standing in the doorway, staring back at him with scared eyes. “What the hell, who are you?!” He scrambled up and pulled the sheets up to his neck defensively. “Why do you look like me?!” He head was swimming, this all happening too fast after waking up. He rubbed his eyes just to make sure, but he - Josh - was still standing there in the doorway.

 

\--------------

 

Tyler took a few steps towards Josh on the bed, holding his hand out, “Hold on, Josh, that’s you right? Calm down, you have to calm down.” He was betraying his own words as he saw his ha- no Josh’s hand shaking as he reached out to the scared figure in the bed.

 

\--------------

 

“No, what the hell, why do you look like me?! What’s going on?” Josh watched as the man who looked exactly like him stopped and gestured towards him. He looked down and saw his hands. But they weren’t his hands, these were smaller and had black tattoos around the wrist. Where was the green from his tattoo? Why did he have the same tattoo Tyler ha-

 

“OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL DUDE?!” He started yelling as he stumbled out of the bed and looked down at his hands and arms. His (?) chest had the recognizable black rectangular tattoos that he had always admired on Tyler from a distance, but now they were on him? What was going on? Why did he look like this? Who was the guy who looked like him? Is this even real? He began to smack his cheek to see if he would wake up.

 

“Dude, stop!” Hands grabbed his wrists before he could hit himself again. He looked down at the hands, big, with green starting at the wrist and traveling upwards. He looked up at his own face that had a look of worry on it. “I don’t know what’s happening right now, but we have to calm down before we hurt ourselves.” His voice was shaky, but stern and he gently pulled him over the the bed and sat him down. Josh couldn’t look away from his own face and his hands that were gripping the hands that weren’t his but were attached to him now.

 

“What the hell is happening?” Josh whispered and looked back up to his face, “And who are you?”

 

“It’s me Tyler, I know I don’t really look like myself right now, in fact I look fricking a lot like you and I don’t know why or how, but freaking out is not going to help.” Tyler gently let go of his hands and sat down criss cross on the other side of the bed.

 

Josh didn’t say anything, but only looked down at his hands, and felt the slightly raised black lines on his wrist and shivered. This couldn’t be real. Did they switch bodies? Is he really awake?

 

He wants to hit himself again just to make sure but Tyler interrupts him. “Do you remember anything weird happening last night? I can’t, we just took showers and then went right to bed right?”

 

“Yeah, I think so…” Josh quietly whispered, sitting on his hands so he would stop looking at them.

 

Tyler itched at his beard a little, not used to having it, “Then what ha-”

 

He was cut off by a knock on the door. They both looked frantically at each other. Tyler, with wide eyes, cleared his throat and called out in a cracked voice, “Yes…?”

 

There was a pause before a muffled answer came from the other side of the door. They looked at each other again, knowing the neither of them had understood it. Tyler hesitantly got off the bed and walked to the door, tripping a little on Josh’s pajama pants again. He stopped at the door and waited a second before unlocking and opening it.

 

Outside was a impatient looking Mark. When the door opened he looked up and smirked. “Just woke up, Josh? God, it looks like you had a rough night.” Tyler didn’t say anything for a moment, before realizing Mark was talking to him.

 

“Uhh yeah, didn’t get much sleep I guess…” He prayed to God that he sounded enough like normal Josh.

 

“Uh, yeah alright. Anyways, go wake your boyfriend, we’re all going down to breakfast and leaving right afterwards. Don’t be too long!” With that, Mark turned and walked down the hallway, leaving and very confused Tyler still in the open doorway. He gently closed it and turned around, rushing back to the bed. Josh was sitting there, looking up at him through Tyler’s confused eyes.

 

What was going on?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the perspective switching was a little confusing, I'm going to try to avoid it for future chapters.


	3. Chapter Three

Tyler broke away from Josh’s gaze. It was too weird to see his own eyes looking at him not through a mirror, with a different mind controlling them. “Well, I guess we have to get dressed then.” He walked over to Josh’s duffle bag about to go through it when Josh stopped him.

“Uh, wait! Hold on, let me pick something to wear, otherwise it’ll probably look weird.”

Tyler shrugged and stepped out of the way as Josh took his place. After a moment he turned around and handed him a pile of clothes. He took them and shuffled into the bathroom. Not daring to look into the mirror again, he quietly changed out of his pajama pants, ignoring the fact that he was basically in his friend’s naked body right now. He pushed those thoughts away and finished getting dressed. When he moved towards the door he caught his eyes in the mirror.

Instead of looking away he got closer and examined himself in the reflection. It was weird to move someone else’s face, almost like it was remote control, or a too real virtual reality game. Josh had a lot of scruff after not shaving for almost a month, though it wasn’t too bad after you got past the itchiness. His eyes looked tired, Tyler felt bad for him, maybe he wasn’t sleeping well. he touched his lips and felt how his teeth pushed out a little below his mouth. He leaned back and mussed up the pink mohawk a bit to give it little more life and stepped out.

Josh was sitting on the bed waiting for Tyler to finish. He looked so small, his back hunched over, staring off towards the wall opposite him. He looked up when he heard Tyler come out and was weirdly relieved to see that he looked normal, aside from not being in the right body. He had calmed down a little bit but his mind was still scrambling around for an answer. He just couldn’t find one. Tyler walked over and squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. “Hey, man, it’ll be okay, we just got to figure out what happened and then get things back to normal. And, in the meantime, try to act like we’re not in the wrong bodies.” He chuckled half-heartedly before turning away and picking out some clothes for Josh to wear.

Once in the bathroom Josh went immediately to the mirror. He grabbed his chin and turned it side to side, examining his new face. Tyler was mostly clean shaven and had smaller features. Josh felt awkward, everything smaller than he was used to, though he was an inch or two taller at least. He realised that he had to get dressed now and blushed just thinking about seeing his friend’s body naked. He respectfully turned from the mirror and didn’t look down, as much as he wanted to as he slid his boxers down and began slipping into the clothes Tyler had given him.

He jumped as there was a small rap on the door, “Don’t ogle too long, we need to get downstairs.”

Josh was glad Tyler couldn’t see him blush and he said in defense, “Shut up, I’m not! Just give me a second!” He realised that since he was blushing he would be able to see Tyler blushing so he turned back around. He giggled a little bit at how cute he looked and then covered his face in his hands because he was being so pathetic right now. Once he felt his face temp go back down to normal, he stepped out of the bathroom.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They managed to get through breakfast without much incident, aside from a few looks when they accidently responded to the wrong name. Thankfully everyone was tired too and there wasn’t much conversation.

Before they left the breakfast room, Mark grabbed Tyler before he could leave.”Hey, Josh, you two are acting a little weird, did something happen last night?” His concerned looked changed to a mischievous one and he wiggled his eyebrows at him.

“Mark? What are you talking about?” Tyler said with a little bit of actual confusion, “We’re fine, just didn’t sleep well I guess.”

Mark sighed, “Yeah alright, but I believe in you, alright bud?” He smiled encouragingly and patted his shoulder.

“Yeah...okay, thanks, Mark.” He was still confused but he wanted to leave asap and get back to the room.

Mark patted him once more before letting him go and retreating back into the room to grab another muffin.

Back upstairs, Tyler unlocked the door and entered the room to see Josh face down on the bed. He was glad to see that those pants made his butt look nice and would be sure to wear them more once they switched back. His attention was drawn up to Josh’s shoulders though and he realised they were shaking. Josh was crying.

He gently walked over and sat next to the boy on the bed and reached out to rub circles into his back. “Hey, it’s okay. We made it through breakfast, no suspected anything, it’s going to be alright.” Josh’s shoulder started to shake more and Tyler could hear him quietly sobbing now. Why was he so bad at comforting people?

Tyler leaned over and pushed one of his arms underneath Josh’s chest and pulled him up into a hug. He was definitely crying now, soaking Josh’s shirt. Tyler didn’t know what else he could say, he was just as lost as Josh was, so they sat in silence for a while, gently rocking back and forth.

After a while, Josh had stopped shaking and Tyler actually heard a small giggle from Josh on his chest. He looked down in confusion to see Josh was looking at the tree tattoo on Tyler’s arm. “You know how weird is to be hugged by yourself?”

“Well, I am hugging myself right now, which is also a little weird.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

Tyler let out a breath thankful to see Josh was feeling better. He pulled away, leaving Josh feeling a little colder now, and got up to start packing. He piled his own clothes into his suitcase and went over to do the same for Josh. He saw the journal laying on the floor and put it in the bag, resisting the urge to open it.

Everything was packed and ready and they hauled it all downstairs to the waiting tour bus.

“Maybe we should try to sleep on the way to the next hotel so that we don’t have to talk to anybody.” Tyler whispered to Josh before they stepped on board. Josh nodded in agreement.

Once on board, they put their stuff away and Tyler made his way back to the bunks before he noticed that Josh hadn’t followed him. He looked back and saw that Mark was talking to him. ‘ _Damnit, Mark, why do you have to make this so difficult._ ’

“You guys are okay right? Didn’t get hit on the head yesterday, did you?”

Josh nervously looked down, “No, we’re fine, just tired, I think.” He could tell Mark was still skeptical, but his sigh let him know that he wasn’t going to push it any farther, at least not right now.

“Alright then, nevermind.”

Josh turned and joined Tyler in the bunk room. Thankfully everyone was up front, socialising or eating more breakfast. Once the door was shut, Josh let out a big sigh. Tyler gave him a half smile before climbing into his bunk. Josh did the same and they laid there in silence until they fell asleep.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey guys, we’re stopping for lunch, get up.”

Mark’s voice came in through the door and Josh groaned. He’d rather just stay in the bunk where he didn’t have to pretend to be anyone else.

“Taco bell!”

Oh, alright then, he supposed he could get up.

He slid open the curtain and swung his legs over the side with a big yawn. Mark gave him a quick, strange look before leaving. ‘ _What did I do this time?_ ’

He nudged Tyler awake and started stretching. Tyler yawned and started to get out of the bunk when he saw Josh had frozen and was staring towards the door. “What-”

“We slept in our bunks.”

“Yeah, so what, we wer-”

“No I mean we slept in our own bunks.” Josh turned towards him with a worried look.

“Oh. Well whatever, I’m sure it wasn’t that weird.” He slid out of the bunk and gently pushed Josh towards the door. “Don’t worry too much.”

“Yeah, but...yeah okay.”

Eating his favorite food made him feel a bit better and thankfully everyone ate too fast to make much conversation. They all piled back on the bus and within a few more hours they had made it to their next hotel. They had a few days before the next show.

Josh was slightly upset to find out that he and Tyler had different rooms this time. “Don’t...don’t do anything weird.” he warned Tyler before continuing down the hallway to his own room.

“I should be saying that to you!” Tyler teased before going inside.

He set Josh’s bag down near the bed and hopped up to watch tv. He began drifting off, but before he could he got to go take a shower. Again, Tyler thought about Josh’s naked body and how this is a little awkward, but it’s unavoidable he thought. In the bathroom, he stripped his clothes and turned on the water. His eyes slid over to the mirror where he could see everything perfectly.

‘ _Don’t be weird about it, just look, I have to live in this thing now anyways._ ’

Josh had really nice muscles, like really nice. Tyler was jealous. His biceps were a nice size and his chest and stomach well toned, and then of course there was the V. ‘ _V for very nice._ ’ He laughed a little at his own joke and then blushed to realise that he was, in fact, completely naked. He turned around and got distracted by his back muscles. He stretched and flexed his shoulders. Wow, he hadn’t realised how much he likes muscles. He was going to make sure to make the most of this.

 

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay give me a little while to finish the next chapter, but there will be some inapropro happenings in it so stay tuned


	4. Chapter Four

Josh sighs a bit with relief as soon as he was alone. ‘ _ Oh god this is so weird.’ _ This time yesterday he was in his own body, his own clothes, and not worried about much of anything. Now, he didn’t know what was going to happen. Would they change back after sleeping tonight? No, probably not, they had already slept today on the bus. What was Tyler doing? Hopefully nothing weird or something that would embarrass him. Images of Tyler streaking down the hotel hallway, yelling wildly, slapped him. ‘ _ Please, no.’ _

 

He sighs again and decides it’ll just be best to go to bed now, even though it’s early still. He starts going through Tyler’s bag to find pajama pants, but remembers halfway through, ‘ _ Right, he doesn’t really wear pajamas’ _ He huffs nervously, but takes off his clothes anyway, leaving the boxers on, and crawls into bed. 

 

He can’t believe he’s in his friend’s body, his friend that he has a crush on no less. He should be so happy and excited, especially now he’s alone, he could do whatever he wanted to but he felt guilty even thinking that. ‘ _ What if that’s what Tyler’s doing right now?’ _ he blushed, thinking about Tyler getting turned on by being in Josh’s body, just like Josh was right now.

 

‘ _ Damnit, of course I had to go there.’ _ He looked down and his boxers are a little tighter than before. ‘ _ Oh god this is so embarrassing!’ _ His head turned both ways to search the room, even though he knew there was no one else there. What would Tyler think if he found out? ‘ _ He won’t find out.’ _ says the devil on his shoulder. He guess he was right though, how could he find out? Maybe just a little bit wouldn’t be too bad…

 

He hesitantly palmed his crotch, eliciting a soft moan. ‘ _ Oh my god that’s Tyler’s voice moaning…!’ _ the realisation turned him on even more as he continued. He leaned his head back on the pillows, mouth open, enjoying every little noise he was making.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - \-         -

 

Now out of the shower, Tyler was back on the bed flipping through bad hotel tv channels. After a while, Tyler’s gaze drifted back over to his bag. ‘ _ Josh’s journal’  _ He knew he really shouldn’t but he had forgotten to give it back to Josh before they split up and the curiosity was eating away at him. ‘ _ He won’t know, I just want to know what happens in his head, I mean, I’m already in his body…’ _

 

He gets up and quickly grabs it before he can change his mind. He sits back down on the bed, but hesitates. ‘ _ No I really shouldn’t.’ _ He tosses it down on the comforter and turns his gaze back to the tv. After a few minutes, he can’t stop glancing at it and and picks it back up.

 

The first few pages are just journal entries, dated back towards the beginning of the tour. Tyler kept a tour journal as well, along with a song writing one. Guilt fell on him and he barely skimmed through, not wanting to really invade too much into Josh’s privacy. He flipped through a few more pages until a drawing caught his eye. ‘ _ I didn’t know Josh drew!’ _ He smiled excitedly and he flipped back until he found the page. The smile faltered a bit when he saw what the drawing was of.

 

The lines were scribbled, done in black pen, of a figure, curled up in a corner with dark scribbled shadows surrounding him. Words to the left drew his eyes away and he read the poem;

 

_ Here I come, come to you in the very clothes _

_ That I killed, killed you in and now I know I’m alone _

_ I walk to you, rain falls  _ _ from you _

_ Can you wash me,  _ _ can you drown me? _

 

_ I wanna be a lot of things, so much pent up inside of me _

_ I wanna be stronger, too long I’ve sat here undecidedly _

_ Planning strategy, half of me know it’s all just a fallacy _

_ Failing miserably, drastically and then I crash dramatically _

_ Into a wall I’ve hit a hundred times before _

_ And yet I still ignore the dark red blood stains on the floor _

_ And I’m back in front of you, Lord, with the blood on the floor _

_ Is the blood mine or yours? Don’t wanna do this anymore _

 

_ Here I come again to _ _ you _

_ Just to show the blood soaked through _

_ Through my bones and all I own _

_ Is there a way for me to grow? _

_ I walk to you, rain falls from you _

_ Can you wash me, can you drown me, please? _

 

His chest tightened a bit when he read the words over again. He knew he had similar writing in his journal, but it still hurt to see how his friend felt. ‘ _ I should give him a hug, hugs are always good.’ _ As he was closing the journal, he saw a quick flit of another drawing. Opening back up to the page, he saw that this sketch was much less sad. There was a small grouping of hearts, very middle school-esque, which had been slightly scribbled over in embarrassment. There was another poem, much shorter, nearby.

 

_ I think he would beat the moon in a _

_ Pretty contest _

_ And the moon just happened to be the _

_ Very first thing that I missed _

_ I won't fall in _

_ Love with falling _

_ I will try avoid those eyes _

_ But now I'm here to _

_ Give him words as _

_ Tools that can _

_ Destroy my heart _

 

Tyler blushed a little, realising he had probably overstepped the not-invading-Josh’s-privacy line by now. ‘ _ That’s definitely a love poem. And it’s definitely about a guy. I didn’t know Josh was like that...?’  _ He sighed slowly and replaced the journal back into the bottom of the bag, hoping Josh wouldn’t realise he had opened it in the first place. ‘ _ I wish Josh would talk to me more.’ _

 

He was exactly sure how to feel, because he had basically just outed his friend by accident to himself without Josh even knowing. He got up and decided that a hug was still in order, and decided to not let Josh know what he now knew. ‘ _ He can tell me when he’s ready’ _ He got up and walked towards the hallway, head slightly hung in guilt.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

‘ _ Oh god oh god oh god..!’  _ Josh’s breathing was very uneven by this point, whining and shifting in the bed. His hand was down the front of his boxers, stroking frantically. He was so close! His eyes were closed and he was focused solely on Tyler’s voice coming out of his mouth; it was so amazing, so  _ fucking hot _ . He never thought he would be able to such lewd sounds from Tyler, but now he was and he was really  _ really _ enjoying it.

 

A few more strokes and the tension in his lower stomach reached its high point, releasing a tremble throughout his whole body. “Ah, fuck! Tyler!” he moaned long and low as he continued slowly stroking through it. After if was over his skin felt like electricity was flowing through it, he was too sensitive and exhausted to move for a few moments. 

 

Guilt washed over him very quickly though, and he sat back up and put his head in his hands. ‘ _ Oh my god I can’t believe I just did that. This is my friend’s body!’  _ His face was hot, either from the exertion or embarrassment, he couldn’t quite tell which. ‘ _ And really? Just from his voice too, I’m such a loser.’ _

 

His thoughts were interrupted by a couple quick, quiet knocks on the door. Josh froze in fear, ‘ _ Shit!’ _ He jumped off the bed and quickly ran to the suitcase while calling out, “Just a minute!”

 

‘ _ Fuck, fuck, fuck!’  _ Who even was it? It was past dinner time, no one should need anything at this hour. He found a clean pair of underwear and quickly changed, throwing the damp ones in a far corner of the room, hopefully out of sight.

 

He hurried to the door, not wanting to take too long to actually answer it. Unlocking the deadbolt he cracked it open a jar. Tyler was standing there, in a pair of Josh’s pajama pants. ‘ _ Shit’  _ Tyler looked up and smiled at Josh.

 

“Hey Josh- err Tyler…?” Tyler looked up and down the hallway to make sure they were alone. “I uhh...just thought I’d stop by and see how you were doing. This has been a weird day.”

 

Josh sighed a little bit but kept most of his body hidden behind the door, knowing that he probably looked a little more rustled than one who had been doing only innocent things. “Oh, yeah I’m okay, I guess.” he said weakly, kind of hoping Tyler would accept that as a good enough answer and go back to his room. Tyler didn’t make a move and it was obvious he wasn’t planning on leaving. After an awkwardly long moment, Josh steps back and lets Tyler inside.

 

Tyler stops halfway into the room and turns around. He’s leaning back and forth on his feet, obviously nervous about something. Josh closes the door and turns around, not moving away from the door. Unexpectedly, Tyler quickly steps forward with Josh’s cute little swagger and wraps his arms around Josh. Taken by surprise he steps back, brushing up against the door. Tyler gently pushes Josh’s head to nestle in his neck, hugging him tighter.

 

“...it’s weird that you’re the taller one now.” Tyler breathlessly chuckles.

 

Josh smiles a bit and slowly starts to hug him back. Neither of them had shirts on and the heat from their exposed skin pressing against each other was very comforting. They stood there in comfortable silence, breathing softly against each other. The lulling feeling was like drifting off in a hammock on a warm day. Josh was still confused as to why this was happening, but he wasn’t going to complain.

 

Tyler starts to pull back and Josh reluctantly lets him go. His arms fall to his side, missing the hug already. 

 

“What was that for?” Josh asks quietly.

 

“It’s just been a weird day and I thought a hug would feel nice.” Tyler gazed at him through Josh’s squinty-eyed smile. Josh returns the look shyly.

 

“Yeah, thanks, I think it did.”

 

They both stood there, Josh still up against the door and Tyler a foot away. Josh looks down, growing nervous again. Tyler glances away, feeling bad for staring. “Sorry, I can go now you were probably trying to slee-”

 

“No!” Josh interrupts a little too fast. “Uh, I was actually just going to watch some tv, if you want to join me?” he asks more hesitantly. What was he doing? He remembers what he did just minutes before and blushes, looking to the side so Tyler didn’t notice. He doesn’t say anything else and lets the question hang in the air.

 

“Yeah, sure,” Tyler almost whispers, “that would be nice.” After Josh doesn’t move, he turns and heads towards the bed and arranges the pillows so he can lean against the headboard. He grabs the remote and turns on the tv. Josh is still lingering in the entryway and Tyler pats the bed next to him. “Come on, they’re playing Scrubs.” He pats the bed again until Josh joins him.

 

They sit in silence, occasionally chuckling at the show. Josh could feel himself drifting off. ‘ _ Crap, I’m really tired.’ _ He didn’t really want to fall asleep just yet. It was nice to feel the warmth from Tyler next to him, but unfortunately it wasn’t helping him stay awake. As soon as he let his eyes close it was too late to fight it anymore.

  
Tyler glances down as he feels Josh lean into him. His eyes are closed and mouth slightly open, breathing softly. ‘ _ He’s sleeping.’ _ Tyler smiles to himself, realizing that he was seeing what  _ he _ looked liked when he slept. ‘ _ I’m a pretty cute sleeper too… but maybe that’s just Josh.”  _ He pulls the comforter up over them and shuts off the lamp and tv. They had shared beds before, and it was always comforting to sleep with another body in the bed. He was glad that it was his best friend, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient guys! I'm gonna be really busy the next week or so because of Christmas, but I'll still be working on it so it shouldn't be too long before the next chapter.  
> Also sorry about the poetry, I'm not very good at it so I just took some lyrics from Drown and Air Catcher and changed a few things.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS! I'M BACK! I know it's been like one million years but I've gone through so much between the last chapter and now. I finished high school, went through some emotional shit with my friends, and I just moved out on my own like hundreds of miles away from home. I hope you guys haven't completely given up on this story yet, I have the rest of it planned out and I have a lot of free time right now to write, so hopefully I can finally get around to finishing it. I got this chapter for you guys, and I'll start work on the next one right away. Thanks, let me know what you think!!

The sunlight coming in through the uncurtained windows gently warms Josh’s face as his eyes slowly open, squinting from the bright glow. He’s laying on his side, snuggled comfortably in the soft bed, about to drift off once more when he realizes that he can feel the quiet rise and fall of Tyler’s chest beneath his cheek. He freezes, partially out of shock and also not wanting to wake Tyler by accident. He's pressed up against Tyler's side, who's sleeping on his back. After a moment, he very slowly lifts his head up and tries to raise the rest of his body before realizing that Tyler’s arm is wrapped around his back, hand resting on his hip. He tries to think of what to do but his mind is mostly just going, ‘ _!!!!!!!!’_ which is proving quite useless. He tilts his head upwards the tiniest bit to see that Tyler is facing away from him, the pink hair from his mohawk tickling Josh’s nose a bit.

 

‘ _Maybe I can just stay here…?’_ The alarm would probably go off soon and then Josh wouldn’t have to wake Tyler in this awkward position. ‘ _Oh god I hope Tyler doesn’t mind that I fell asleep on him.’_ Josh bites his lip nervously and decides he’s going to have to get out of the bed before Tyler wakes up, just in case.

 

Slower than a sloth, Josh reaches back and gently wraps two fingers around the hand resting on his hip and lifts it up and over onto the bed behind him. Less imprisoned now, he gently pushes himself up onto his elbow, careful not to lean on the arm that is still beneath him. The bed shifts a little, causing Tyler to stir. He freezes again as his head turns over on the pillow, now facing Josh. Josh lets out a sigh of relief when he sees that his eyes are still closed, still asleep.

 

He stops moving for a few seconds, looking down at Tyler and carefully watching his face for any signs of disturbance. A blush creeps up as he realizes that he’s watching himself sleep. His mouth is closed and his nostrils flare slightly with each breath he breathes out. His scruff is starting to get a little thicker and Josh makes a note to have Tyler shave later. ‘ _He’s probably not used to taking care of a beard.’_ he muses. His eyes travel down a bit more, past his beard and studies his adams apple and his slender neck with hollowed collar bones. Josh has a strong urge to kiss his neck, right underneath his jaw. If he wasn’t blushing much before he definitely was now. ‘ _Wow, I must be narcissistic or something to want to kiss myself.’_

 

After slapping himself mentally, he successfully finished getting out of bed without waking up Tyler. He headed into the bathroom for a little solace. After splashing some water on his face he looked down and realized he had a little...problem. ‘ _No! Not now, especially not with Tyler literally ten feet away!’_ He really hoped he hadn’t just gotten turned on by seeing _his own body_.

 

/----/

 

Tyler wakes up slowly as the sun’s warmth starts to get uncomfortable. He yawns, his mouth almost painfully wide as he tries to clear the grogginess of sleep from his head. Still not quite fully awake or aware, he realises that he _really_ needs to pee. Opening his eyes to the smallest squint required to navigate the empty room, he heads for the bathroom. He trips on his bag on his way over. ‘ _Whoops, I guess I just dropped my bag here last night. How tired was I?’_

 

Still too tired to even wonder about why his hotel bathroom door was closed, he pushes it open. He looks up in surprise as he saw that there was in fact someone already in there. He stares for a moment, thinking maybe it was just the sleepiness before he remembers the previous day.

 

“Oh, jeez, sorry man. I kind of thought yesterday was a dream. I guess not, huh?” Tyler stares at Josh, more awake now that he was hit again with the realization of not being in his own body.

 

“Uh, yeah, sorry. It looks like we’re gonna be stuck like this for awhile.” Josh was obviously a little anxious, his body mostly turned away in an attempt to hide something. Tyler squints for a second before remembering that he did just walk in on his friend in the bathroom.

 

“Oh! Sorry, I, uh....sorry, I’ll leave.” Josh gives him a curt nod as he backs out of the bathroom and shuts the door. He hears the small click of the lock and instantly feels guilty. After a moment of standing next to the door, he leans in closer and says loud enough for josh to hear through the door, “I do actually have to pee, so don’t take too long!”

 

He walks back over to the bed and plops down. He feels bad about walking in on Josh; he was a pretty private person and it was obvious that he had a little bit of a morning... _situation_ . ‘ _It happens to everyone, it’s not weird that it happened to him, even if he’s in my body.’_ Tyler thinks to himself. He remembers what he found out yesterday in Josh's journal, but pushes it away. He doesn't need to speculate until Josh comes out to him himself. He squirms a bit on the bed really hoping that Josh wouldn't be much longer.

 

As his bladder is threatening to burst, he tries to distract himself by remembering what happened yesterday. The first time they woke up like this, the awkward interactions with the crew, the bus ride, checking in the ho- “Oh yeah!” Tyler quickly gets up and he stands next to the door once more, “Hey I’m just gonna head to my room! I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast!” Before he even hears a reply from Josh, he’s out in the hallway briskly walking towards the room he had abandoned last night.

 

/----/

 

As Josh is debating about what to do about his stupid problem, Tyler talks to him again from the other side of the bathroom door, “Hey I’m just gonna head to my room! I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast!” Josh shoots back an okay that probably isn’t even heard as the door to his room closes behind Tyler. He lets out a sigh of relief, thankful to actually be alone again. He decides to just take a cold shower and hurries so he’s not suspiciously late to breakfast. He doesn’t want Tyler thinking that he’d get rid of his morning wood another way…

 

/----/

 

Tyler leaves his own bathroom, now relieved. He stretches and cracks his back looking around the room until his eyes fall onto Josh’s bag. ‘ _I suppose I should actually get dressed.’_ He saunters over and crouches down, rummaging through the piles of clothes. It’s kind of fun to get to look through someone else’s clothes and find an outfit. So many new possibilities!

 

He knows he should stick to Josh’s usual casual skater-punk style, but it was going to be way too tempting to have a little bit of fun with it. Josh had a nice body and he wanted to flaunt it since that was harder to do in his own, skinnier, lanky body. Josh was humble and a little shy off-stage about it, but Tyler knew he could tease him a bit by showing a little bit of skin. Grabbing a few things, he heads back into the bathroom to shower and change.

 

/----/

 

Josh is just sitting down at the table with Mark and Michael with his heaping plate of hotel-provided scrambled eggs and toast when he spots Tyler strutting towards them. He almost drops his plate when he sees what he’s wearing.

 

“Hey guys, what’s for breakfast?” Tyler leans on his hand on the table, greeting the other two men sitting there. They look up briefly and grunt a few good mornings. Tyler looks up at Josh who’s still staring at him in disbelief and gives him a big smirk. “Good morning, _Tyler_.”

 

Tyler has dressed himself in what Josh would only ever wear on stage because of how showy it is. He has on one of his few long, loose tanks, white with a few tiny moth-holes near the neck. It almost completely showed off his toned biceps and defined sides. Then, he’s also sporting his tight leather pants that wrap around his curvy legs and show off his round ass. To stay true to the Josh style, he also threw on a black and white snapback over his messy pink curls.

 

“Good morning, _Josh._ ” Josh says with a slightly bitter squint. Tyler was fucking with him because he knew he could. ‘ _Of course he’d take advantage of having control over my body. I bet he’s having a lot of fun!’_ He finally sits down and looks away from Tyler, who is obviously giddy at his reaction and skips away to find his own food. ‘ _Oh my god,’_ Josh sighs and begins eating his slightly soggy eggs, ‘ _At least he didn’t actually strip and streak through the halls.’_

 

/----/

 

Tyler eventually returns with his own plate of food and they talk about what they could do today. They had today and tomorrow before their next show, and Mark suggests they go find a zoo or amusement park to relieve some stress.

 

“At least this next one is a smaller venue, so there won’t be too much pressure for you two. It’ll be a nice change of pace after the last few weeks.” As soon as Mark mentions the venue, Josh drops his fork on his plate with a loud _clang_. Locking eyes with Tyler, he sees his own face sharing the same stunned expression, telling him that he had realized the same thing. They had a _show_ to perform in just a few days.  _And they were going to have to preform in each other's bodies._

 

“Tyler, jeez, are you okay?” Mark asks with a slight teasing tone. He looks between both of the boys and saw that there was actually something wrong, “Wait, what? Did I say something?”

 

Tyler stands up abruptly and pushes back his chair, “Uh no, it’s fine. I’m going to, uh, just go back upstairs and lay down for a bit?” The end was more of a question as his smug demeanor had instantly turned to one of the edge of poorly masked worry. He rushes away before Mark could ask any questions.

 

Michael, who had been silently watching this all unfold, throws down his napkin and stands up as well, “Well, alright then. I’m going to go talk to the rest of the guys and see if anyone wants to go to the zoo.” He walks away, leaving a still stunned Josh and a confused Mark at the table.

 

Josh gets up to go too, desperately needing to go talk to Tyler, but Mark quickly turns to him and grabs his wrist to stop him. “Okay, hold on, Tyler. What’s going on? You and Josh have both been acting weird since yesterday. Did something happen between you two? Did you fight or something?”

 

Josh grimaces. Knowing he’s a terrible liar, he tries anyway, “No, we’re fine Mark. Sorry, we’re just both tired from the tour. Can I go now?”

 

Mark squints, instantly seeing through his attempt to brush off the question, “Um, no. Not until you tell me what’s up. I’m your friend, dude, you can tell me anything.”

 

He looks at Josh expectantly, making no move to let him go. Josh breathes out exasperatedly and looks between him and the doorway a few times before he gives in. Ignoring the voice inside his head screaming not to say anything, he looks back at Mark, “I’m not Tyler.”

 

A look of confusion flashes across Mark’s face, but it quickly falls back into doubt. “Okay, haha, very funny. Did aliens come in and abduct you and replace you with one of their own?”

 

“I wish!” Josh almost yells. He’s starting to panic now, from realizing how crazy this is going to sound, as well as the rude surprise he just got about the show. There’s just too much happening all at once for his calm to stay intact.

 

“Basically, Tyler and I woke up yesterday and we realized we weren’t in our own bodies and we had somehow switched into each other’s bodies and we freaked out and we don’t why it happened or how it happened or how to fix-”

 

Mark holds his hand out to stop him, “Okay woah, woah, woah. Slow down. You’re fucking with me right? Like I know something must’ve happened the other day, but that’s a bit much.”

 

Josh lets out another exasperated groan, “No, I swear to you that I’m telling the truth!” He pauses for a moment and when Mark doesn’t reply he takes a deep breath, “I honestly don’t know what’s going on and I can hardly believe it myself. It feels like a dream I can’t wake up from.” He doesn’t dare look at Mark’s face.

 

After a few moments of silence, Josh was convinced that Mark was just going to get up and leave, thinking it was just a stupid prank. Instead, he hears Mark clear his throat and breathe out in contemplation.

 

“Okay, well, if you’re actually _Josh_ , tell me something only he could say.”

 

Josh looks up at him and sees that he’s looking directly at him, waiting to see a break in any façade he might have going. A bit of surprise and hope flickers in his chest seeing that his friend was willing to hear him out.

 

“Um…” this was going to be awkward, “okay, I know that you already know this, since you tease me all the time, but, uh, I kind of have a little crush…” The ending trailed off into an embarrassed mumble and Mark leans in closer with the beginning of a smirk twitching in the corner of his mouth.

 

“What was that?”

 

“I said,” Josh repeats, a little louder but while ferociously avoiding eye contact, “that I have a crush on Tyler.”

 

“OH MY GOD, I KNEW IT!” Mark just about yells in victory, slamming his fist on the table and pointing at him. “Unless you’re just incredibly narcissistic, I believe you that you’re Josh.” He leans back and chuckles while staring at Josh, “Wow, I can’t believe it. What happened to switch you guys?”

 

Josh finally looks at him with red cheeks. “Yeah, I don’t know. We just sort of woke up like this.”

 

“I mean I knew you guys were acting weird, but this is more than I expected.”

 

“Yeah, well you should’ve seen us when we saw ourselves walking and talking from across the room.”

 

“Jeez, man. So what are we gonna do about it?” His eyes widen and he leans forward in earnest, “What are you gonna do about the next show?”

 

“That’s kind of what we just realized before you cornered me. I need to go talk to Tyler.” He buries his face in his hands, “Oh god, we’re screwed.”

 

“Okay, okay. Let’s go up and talk to Tyler.” He grins and shakes his head, “Sorry that just sounds so weird when I’m talking to Tyler.”

 

“Dude.”

 

“Sorry, sorry. But yeah, let’s go and talk to him and we can figure something out.”

 

They get up and make their way down the hallway towards Tyler’s room. Josh silently prays that Tyler won’t kill him for telling Mark. As they round the corner, Michael almost bumps into them.

 

“Hey, so we going to the zoo?”

 

Mark steps in to save the day. “Uh, yeah probably not. Tyler here wants to stay in today so we can go over some details for the show. But please, if the rest of you guys want to go, you should!”

 

Michael simply shrugs and pushes past them, “Alright, see you guys later.”

 

They continue down the hall and finally reach Tyler’s room. Josh knocks on the door and they wait until Tyler comes to let them in.

 

As the door opens, he’s visibly relieved to see Josh, but then spots Mark right behind him and stiffens up again. “Oh, hey, Tyler. Mark.”

 

“Dude, he knows.” Josh pushes past him into the room and Mark follows behind as Tyler closes the door behind them. He spins around, trying to look confused.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“I already told him!” Josh huffs out. He grimaces as he waits for Tyler’s reaction.

 

Tyler’s shoulders just drop and he lets out a small, “Oh.”

 

Mark cuts in awkwardly, “Yeah...this is pretty crazy. But, uh, Josh,” He points towards Josh who’s now sitting hunched over on the edge of the bed, “he told me that you guys, sort of, woke up switched?”

 

“And you believe us?” Tyler asks cautiously, stepping farther into the hotel room and sitting down on the second bed.

 

“Uh yeah I guess.” Mark shrugs and looks between the two of them. “I trust you guys. Hopefully that’s not a mistake.”

 

“No, it’s not!” Tyler says quickly, “Thanks, Mark.” He ruffles the pink hair on his head and curls his fingers anxiously through it.

 

Josh looks up at Tyler, watching his fingers wrap around strands of his hair, silently wishing that he could actually be in his own body while Tyler was doing that. Mark interrupts his distracted thoughts.

 

“So, we kind of have another problem.”

 

Tyler sighs loudly and smacks his hands down on his leather-clad thighs, “The show.”

 

“Yeah, what are you guys going to do about that? I don’t know if anyone will believe that you guys learned each other’s parts.”

 

Josh lays down on the bed, rubbing his eyes, “Could we just cancel the show, say one of us is sick?”

 

“Well we could,” Mark draws out, “but that won’t help us with the next show, or the one after that. We can’t really cancel the whole tour. We don’t even know how long you guys are going to be like this.” Josh was glad he didn’t mention the possibility that they’d be stuck like this forever.

 

Tyler straightens up, “What if we actually do learn each other’s parts?” He looks between the other two while they wait for him to explain, “Like, we could actually rent a rehearsal space and practice the next two days! I already kind of know how to play the drums, and I bet Josh could pick up the ukulele and enough of the piano to get through a show.”

 

While Mark nods in contemplative agreement, Josh was not sharing any of the enthusiasm. ‘ _I don’t know how to play Tyler’s instruments! There’s no way I could practice enough in two days to perform in front of hundreds of people!’_ Josh was comfortable behind his drums, where he could blindly pound away at them while Tyler played to the crowd and ran around stage.

 

“While that could work in the long run if this doesn’t fix itself soon, I don’t think that it’s going to work in such small amount of time.” After a short pause, Mark looks over at Tyler, “You probably won’t like this.”

 

“What?”

 

“Well,” Mark starts slowly, “I could always play your pre-recorded music and you guys could just keep up appearances while pretending to play.”

 

Tyler’s face immediately scrunches up in displeasure. He had always hated the thought of not putting out something real for their fans. Not giving them the passion in person that they deserved. While Tyler was obviously not keen on the idea, Josh sent out a silent thank you that Mark was there to help them.

 

“Okay, you’re right. But everyone will be able to tell if they hear the album version of the vocals.” Tyler is still upset but he’s knows he’s going to have to compromise. He looks to Josh, knowing that it was mostly riding on him.

 

Josh looks back at him in momentary confusion, “What?” then he realised, “Oh. Oh god! What?!” He quickly sits back up, the panic rising in his chest again. “You want me to sing?! I can’t sing! That’s what you do! I just sit behind the drums!”

 

If Mark still had any doubts about what was going on, he definitely didn’t anymore. Seeing Josh so upset was telling; it was usually more intense than when Tyler would wallow quietly. He steps closer to his friend in his other friend's dark-haired body.

 

“Hey, it’s going to be fine! You technically have Tyler’s voice already, so all you need to do is get used to using it!” He looks over to Tyler, “Plus I bet you could help him out and show him how to do it?”

 

“Yeah, yeah of course!” Tyler scooted off the bed and sat beside Josh, putting his hand on his shoulder in support. “It’ll be fine, you can do this, and I can practice with you so don’t worry. I’ll be right beside you the whole time.”

 

Josh’s shoulders slump in defeat, “Yeah, alright, I’ll try.” Tyler smiles at him and Josh sees his eyes squint the way that he had only seen in videos and pictures before. Josh agreed, it was cute, especially when Tyler was behind it.

 

Mark nods. “I’ll go find you guys a rehearsal space.” He takes his phone out and leaves them alone in the room. Tyler’s hand falls from his shoulder and he gets up. Josh is sad at the loss of the comforting touch but doesn’t say anything.

 

“Hey man, we got this.” He smiles again at Josh, who’s now looking down at his hands. Tyler wants to convince himself just as much as he wants to convince Josh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Mark, need me a freak like him. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed, I'll try to get the next chapter done as soon as possible!


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, it's been literally a year since I all but abandoned this story, but I've been getting such sweet comments still to continue it. TBH I'm not really all that into TOP anymore, but I don't want to leave you guys hanging if you love the story so much! So I dusted off my outline I had for it originally and I wrote this chapter! I don't want to give you empty promises again, but hopefully I will finish it, I did have fun writing this one. Hope you enjoy and let me know if you do want more!

Mark pulled through with a small but decent rehearsal space that came equipped with it’s own drum set and piano. It wasn’t the quality they were used to, but it didn’t matter much now anyway. Tyler brought along his ukulele as well for Josh to play - or at least pretend to. Tyler went right over to climb behind the drum and got comfortable while Josh awkwardly stood near the door. This was all so different for him, he wasn’t really sure what to do. He nervously inched towards the piano bench and sat down. He saw that Mark hadn’t actually left yet and was giggling behind his hand at watching Tyler trying out a few beats on the drums. He wasn’t really that bad, he did have a bit of experience after all, but it was probably funny to see “Josh” sitting behind the drums and not playing with his usual fervor and skill.

 

Tyler looked up finally and cleared his throat.

 

“Sorry! Sorry. I’ll leave you guys be.” Mark said with another small giggle before he left and closed the soundproofed door behind him.

 

“Okay, anyways,” Tyler looked over to Josh, who still hadn’t even touched the piano yet, “I guess we should figure out how to do this.” He gestured at the drums and the piano with a sideways grin.

 

A few hours of learning the routine for the show against the pre-recorded tracks, Josh pretending on the piano and ukulele, and Tyler actually doing decently with the drums, and Josh couldn’t have been more nervous about the whole singing thing. They had it up to this part, but Josh both knew it was unavoidable in the end. 

 

On the sixth run-through of Tear in My Heart, Josh’s nerves finally caught up with him and he exasperatedly threw his hands up and sank down into a laying position on the piano bench. Tyler noticed after a few moments and shut off the music. 

 

“Hey man, it was going great! You really have the movements down, no one will be able to tell from the audience, it’ll be fine!” Josh mumbled a response into the crook of his arm he’d thrown over his face, but Tyler didn’t catch it. He sighed and stepped out from around the drums where he had been drumming along with the song and walked over to where Josh was still sprawled at an awkward angle on the bench. “Come on, man, what’s up?”

 

Josh didn’t speak for a few seconds but eventually moved his arm and glanced up at Tyler. “I don’t think I can do it.”

 

“No way, dude, you got this! Like I said, even I would be able to tell-”

 

Josh interrupted him, “No, not that! I mean the singing thing! I mean, there’s a reason I stopped singing publicly, and I’m worried I’ll be just as bad as I was before.”

 

Tyler didn’t skip a beat. “Well, first of all, you were never bad, maybe a little nervous, but never bad!” He pushed his way onto the bench so he could sit down next to Josh’s head. “And as much as I love your voice, I happen to know you also love my voice and wish your’s was like it so maybe you can draw confidence from the fact you get to use my voice.”

 

At that Josh sits up abruptly and looks at Tyler, not saying anything. Tyler gets worried when he sees that his face is screwed up in a look of...anger?

 

“Tyler.”

 

“Yeah, what? Did I say something wrong?”

 

“Did you read my journal?”

 

Tyler panics and tries to lie, very unconvincingly, “What? No! I wouldn’t do that! Why would you think that?”

 

Josh is still just looking at him and pauses before replying. “Because, even though it’s true, I don’t think I’ve ever said that to you before, but I definitely have written it down. _In my journal_.” The way he said the last part, Tyler knew there was no backing out now, he knew he had read it and he couldn’t regret it more than he did right then.

 

“Look, okay, yeah I might’ve looked through it but I just wanted to know what you were thinking! I really didn’t think before I did and I’m so sorry and-”

 

“No, you really didn’t think did you?” Even though he hadn’t raised his voice, Tyler could tell Josh was definitely angry now. It was weird, they had never really fought before, especially not like this and Tyler didn’t know what to do. Josh looked away from him and stood up to leave, but stopped midway to the door.

 

“Josh, I really am sorry, this has just been so weir-”

 

“So you know now don’t you?” Josh hadn’t turned around, but also hadn’t moved closer to the door. 

 

Guilt surged up through Tyler’s chest again. He wished Josh would’ve come out to him, but not like this, not with all these bad emotions mixed in. He would’ve accepted Josh without question, but now Tyler had to go fuck it all up for him. “Yeah, I do.”

 

He could see Josh’s shoulder tense from behind, “Alright then.”

 

And with that Josh left the rehearsal room, slamming the door behind him.

 

\------------------------------

 

‘ _ Fuck! FUCK! He fucking knows that I’m gay and I have a fucking crush on him, everything’s fucking ruined!’  _ Josh had somehow made it back to the hotel after storming out, passing a confused Mark on the way. He was now fumbling with his room key while holding back tears. After several failed attempts, the green light went off and he stumbled in, letting the door close itself behind him. He collapsed onto his bed and just let go. The tears wracked from his body and he started sobbing face down into the newly made bedspread. 

 

‘ _ How could he do this to me?’  _ was all he could think as he shook with anger and an overwhelming sadness. He felt betrayed, not only because Tyler read his journal; that wasn’t really a big deal, but because Tyler had taken this secret that Josh had been keeping inside, trying desperately not to let it show so it wouldn’t mess up the awesome friendship they had. ‘ _ Guess that’s over now, how could he still like me now that he knows I’ve been fawning over him and wrote stupid poetry about him. Shit!’  _ That just sends him into another sobbing fit and it takes over an hour for his energy to drain and leave him silent and curled up and feeling so alone.

 

\---------------------------

 

As soon as Josh had stormed out, Tyler got up to go after him, but Mark grabs him by the arm before he can leave the building too. 

 

“Josh-I mean Tyler! What the hell happened in there?”

 

Tyler tried to free himself, but stubborn as always, Mark holds firm.

 

“Nothing, just let me go! I need to go talk to him!”

 

“Dude!” Mark spins him around to look at him, “I don’t know what happened but it really didn’t look like he wants to be talked to right now. Probably especially not from you.” 

 

Tyler’s pull slackens and Mark sighs and loosens his grip on his arm. When Tyler’s head falls to look at his shoes, Mark puts his hand comfortingly on his shoulder. “Hey. It’s okay, let’s just let him cool off a bit. Why don’t you help me clean up, since you both were so eager to let me do it alone, and by the time we get back to the hotel, maybe he’ll be more willing to listen to whatever you had to say to him.”

 

Tyler sniffles and wipes his nose, but looks up at Mark. He’s really glad to have a friend like Mark, but the feeling in his chest hasn’t loosened the grip it had. “Okay.”

 

Mark doesn’t question it farther and leads Tyler back into the room. He does make sure to send a quick text to Michael in case they got back from the zoo so he could check on Josh.

 

\---------------------------------

 

Josh wakes up in a delirious state, his body still exhausted from crying so hard. He manages the impossible and slowly sits up in his bed among the messy pile of blankets and pillows he wrapped around himself. His eyes catch the black tattoos on his arms again and he hates them. He wishes he could at least have the comfort of being in his own body right now, or even better, wake up and realize the last 36 hours were just a dream. 

 

The clock on the bedside tells him it’s 9:30 pm. Past dinner time, but he wouldn’t have even wanted to go downstairs anyway, in case he saw Tyler again. His stomach doesn’t care as much though as it gurgles loudly, and he decides just to get room service.

 

After he calls in his order, he gets undressed but doesn’t bother with a shower, and just lays in bed in his boxers. He really couldn’t feel much more different than he did the first night he laid here like this in Tyler's body. He doesn’t really know what to do about Tyler; they couldn’t cancel the show, or the tour like Mark said, but how could they stay together and go on like nothing happened? He lets his mind go blank as he waits for the food to arrive and just stares up at the ceiling like the answers were written there.

 

After who knows how long, there’s a knock on the door. “Be right there!” Josh calls out, before slipping some sweatpants on to the answer the door. He opens the door, expecting a hotel worker with food to be there, but it's his own face that's waiting there for him.

 

He doesn’t say anything, but they both just look at each other for a minute before Josh goes to slam the door in his face. Tyler quickly catches it before it can shut all the way.

 

“Hold on, Josh. Please, can I come in?”

 

Josh doesn’t look at him, fearing the tears might come back if he does. He doesn’t say anything, but he’s so tired that he eventually lets the pressure off the door and lets him in. Before Tyler can come in the room, Josh goes back to sit on the far side of the bed not looking at him. He can hear him gently close the door behind and walk over the other side of the bed, but he stays standing.

 

After several awkward, tension-filled moments, Tyler speaks, “look, I just wanted to say I’m sorry and before you say anything, I know that that’s not enough. There’s probably nothing I could say to make it any better, but I’d like you to know I am at least sorry.”

 

Josh doesn’t say anything but just slumps further over, his head hung down. It breaks Tyler’s heart to see him like this, to see his skinny back rounded over and his spine sticking out. He can tell he’s been crying from what he saw of his puffy eyes through the doorway. Tyler’s eyes have always been so sensitive that you could easily tell if he had been crying at all. All he wants to do is go over and give him a hug, but all he does is sit down on the bed and look down at his hands. The hands of the man he had just hurt so badly.

 

“I’m really sorry. I sorry that I basically outed you before you were probably ready and I know it’s like a big deal, but I want you to know that it’s okay. I don’t care that you like guys, that’s fine-”

 

“Yeah, but don’t you care that I like  _ you _ ?” Josh interrupted him in a cracked voice. He still hadn’t moved, but Tyler looked at his back in surprise.

 

“What do you mean? I just saw the poetry and stuff you wrote about some dude." He takes a deep breath, still confused, "are you saying it was about me?”

 

Josh jerks up and turns around, his red eyes still wet with fresh tears, but his face showing panic and confusion instead of anger. After a few false starts, he chokes out, “You-you mean you didn’t read all of it? You didn’t know that I liked you? But you said you knew!”

 

Tyler was shocked but still got his words out, “Well, yeah, I found out you were gay, but I really didn’t expect it to be about me! I mean we’re such good friends I never really thought…”

 

Josh turns back around and puts his face in his hands and yells, “SHIT! I thought you knew! Fuck, ignore that, it’s not really true, I’m just confused, it’s fine-” His words freeze as he feels Tyler’s hand on his shoulder.

 

Josh’s back is so tense when he does it Tyler catches another wave of guilt, but he has to calm him down. Josh has always been quick to break down, and it hurts Tyler to see him like this whenever it happens. Though it never has involved him quite like this before; he would’ve never wanted to hurt Josh this bad.

 

“Josh, please-” 

 

Just then there was another knock on the door and they both freeze. Josh knows it’s room service but doesn’t make a move to answer it. After a few moments Tyler’s hand leaves his shoulder and he feels the bed lift as Tyler stands up to get the door. After a few quiet exchanges with the person at the door, he hears it close again.

 

Tyler puts the platter on the table next to the tv and looks at Josh, who still hadn’t moved at all. 

 

“I’m sorry, Josh. It’s gonna be okay I promise. Really.” After no response from the slumped figure, “um, you probably want me to leave I guess. Please eat something.” And with that Tyler leaves, and the door closes for a final time. The worst thing was that Josh really didn't want Tyler to leave.


End file.
